Worth a Try
by Inumaru-Chan
Summary: If there was a possibility it could change, all of it, would he take it? Worth a try. Mainly about Sesshoumaru


_This story isn't for everyone. It's very dark, but it had to be in order to show the light at the ending. If you don't like death, though, then do not read. Infer what you will of the pairings._

_This is my one-shot interpretation of what could happen after the end of the InuYasha series..._

Worth a Try

1996. Just a number--yet everything to humans. They worked around it. Picked at it. Proclaimed that since it was a number, they should follow its whims. What great power! The humans almost forgot that _they_ were the number's creators. It should hold no sway over their lives. But today, and only today, a human number took hold of a demon.

This was a day for mourning. A blotched gray and black sky curved around the defenseless city, claiming all cheer and digesting the emotion into melancholy. The once pure tree maidens dressed in different arraignments of leaves slouched over walkways, black thorns snaking silently into passersby. There were no animals scampering for fragments of food. No birds. No people. Just the stagnant stench of something releasing its earthly body for who knew where.

The atmosphere was ideal for a brooding creature treading down the cracked cement pathway.

They were all dead now, Sesshoumaru noticed. If they were alive, they wouldn't recognize him. He clenched the briefcase in his clipped right hand. Adjusted his suit. Ran a hand through his short dyed hair. Itched a surgically morphed ear. Nothing helped. Every single one had been vanquished by many different methods, but taken to the identical outcome.

If he wished to recollect, Sesshoumaru could name how each one had died with frightening morbid accuracy. He had become somewhat macabre as ages passed through him like wind through a chime.

_The demon slayer and monk had been poisoned by a friend. They died in each other's arms surrounded by their children. The fox demon, absurdly enough, had been vanquished by a lightning bolt during a dashing day---no clouds were even reported. Others passed of old age. That was to be expected._

Sesshoumaru barely glanced at his surroundings, already knowing which was where, and where was which. Yet today…today Inuyasha had passed. This meant something, he knew. Sesshoumaru ceased, business clad pants halting and he dissected his opinion on whether he should take a left, or a right. Usually, when Inuyasha was alive, he would presume left. But today. Today told him to move right. And he did.

_Rin's death was difficult. Painful and ruthless. She had joined with Kohaku. Love was given, thus life taken. While birthing their first son, she died. Bled out. Kohaku, in grief that his beloved had gone as well as his eldest sister, took his own life to join them. Their son was never heard of again. _

The dog demon felt his mobile phone weighing more than it ever should in his left pocket. The weight tugged him, held him in an overbearing embrace. If it weren't for the mobile phone technology, this part of Japan would not belong to him. Now, with his sights set on the birthing of a new era through his phone companies, he was sure this…piece of equipment could keep him in power. Though all that rang through his mind were the final comments he solemnly listened to on that _device_.

"I'm sorry, but you're brother is gone. Will you be coming to the United States for the funeral?"

He never answered. Just hung up.

"_Brother-in-law." Those were the final sentiments Sesshoumaru heard from Inuyasha's mate. Out of all of them, she died the most pathetic death. Sesshoumaru deemed it so, and so it must be. She received a common cold. Just a cold. She explained that she could endure and required a day's rest. There was no need to return to her own house and receive treatment. The next morning, her life was gone. And her last words to him were---__**brother-in-law**__. That was all. That was it._

Inuyasha deteriorated after Kagome passed away. At first, he accepted the death of his mate. He brought flowers to her grave. Guarded the small stone night and day. Spoke to it at night. Once the others agreed to sign death's contract around him, his mind lost its footing on sanity. The half demon wandered the country, searching for Kagome. For Miroku. Sango. Shippo. Yes, even Naraku. He was determined to save them. No one would have the heart to set him straight. Sesshoumaru could only watch for so long until he shaved off some of his pride and protected his little brother from his ghosts.

Besides, there was no one left to show his pride to. All were decimated. All but Inuyasha, who, through the years, grew older and older and older. He lost his eyesight, his smell, and his mind. One giant wrinkle. Sesshoumaru brought Inuyasha to a center rumored to help those like his half-brother in the United States, hoping for peace. None came. And none ever did when Sesshoumaru raised the large mobile phone to his ear.

And now they were all dead. He was alive. Still the same---apart from his unwanted burden of Inuyasha, which he now yearned to reclaim now it was lost. How foolish he was, not that he would ever admit.

But something strange happened next. Why it had never before? There could only be guesses. Perhaps he was used to human odor that this particular scent went unnoticed for days, years even. It could have been the sun that jumped from one cloud to another bounced off her pale skin, attracting his attention towards her. Or simply enough, it was the turn to the right that had brought him here. It did not matter. All that did was the little human who must have been born without eyes. She smacked into his chest quite hard. Stumbling back, she bowed.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. I just need to get home before my mom kills me and I wasn't looking. Is there anything I can do to…" Sesshoumaru blocked the constant chatter.

"Priestess? You live?"

Kagome glanced up from behind smooth black bangs. Her eyes mirrored his inward confusion.

"Sorry, but I'm no priestess. Just Kagome. Now if, there's anything I can to make up for this, let me know, but if you can excuse me---" Sesshoumaru caught her wrist, preventing her from movement. He was still abnormally strong, and she knew from the grip he surrounded her with.

And now it all spewed back to him. It clicked. She was not of his time when they collaborated together. That would explain why Inuyasha's mate that now stood here in panic was younger than he remembered. Sesshoumaru searched his memory. Inuyasha's ramblings proved to be useful as he picked an important piece of information.

"You are fifteen, are you not?" Voice still cold. Still, uncontrolled amounts of humans did play a part in infusing their emotions to his throat little by little. Century by century.

"N-no. I turn fifteen tomorrow."

She had not traveled to that time. Not yet.

Ah. So that explained the glow from her side. The one threatening to engulf who he was and what he was meant to be in lustful bites.

He still held her.

What if? No---there were no what ifs. His being here was proof. Even so…what if he stopped her from leaving? Took the jewel? Destroyed the well? Killed her?

What would happen to him then? To her? To Inuyasha? Would they have not died that way? With Naraku never summoned by the jewel, could that time be better?

So many possibilities. So many outcomes. Obviously, his other self had let her go. Let this girl Kagome scramble back to her house and be taken into an era where success lasts for one year. Otherwise, all of this would not be happening…

Why should this Sesshoumaru let the other from an alternate destiny choose what he does now?

"_Brother-in-law."_

Perhaps that could change as well?

Worth a try.

And without regret, the demon stole the girl's breath and the jewel that cost so much and little to many a demon. The demons worshipped it, cared for it, and forgot that the jewel was the result of their deaths. But today, and only today, a demon jewel took hold of a human and left her as it did not before.

As Kagome woke up from her nightmare, a new world glared at her from Sesshoumaru's choice. She just turned fifteen, and nothing would be the same.

Not that she would ever know the difference.


End file.
